Surah Al-Anaam – Mohamed Abdelaziz

Al-Anaam, "The Cattle", is the sixth surah of the Quran. A Meccan surah of 165 verses, it is 55th in the traditional order of revelation and one of the longest surahs revealed in Mecca. Almost entirely devoted to faith, it argues for the oneness of God, the truth of revelation and the resurrection, and answers the objections of the Meccan polytheists.

Name and context

The name comes from verses 6:136–146, which denounce the rules the pagan Arabs had invented about their cattle and crops, setting aside shares for their idols and forbidding what God had not forbidden. Ibn Abbas said: "If you want to know the ignorance of the Arabs, read what comes after verse 130 of Surat al-An'am" (al-Bukhari 3524).

The surah belongs to the late Meccan period. A widely quoted report says it was revealed all at once, escorted by seventy thousand angels; hadith specialists consider its chains weak. Some commentators also regard a few verses, such as 6:151–153, as Medinan.

Main themes

• God, Creator of the heavens and the earth, of darkness and light (6:1), who alone holds "the keys of the unseen" (6:59).
• The unbelievers' demands for signs and angels, and the reminder that earlier messengers were mocked too (6:4–11, 6:33–37).
• Mercy, which God "has prescribed for Himself" (6:12, 6:54).
• Abraham reasoning from the star, the moon and the sun to their Creator (6:74–83), followed by the names of eighteen prophets (6:83–90).
• God's signs in nature: the seed and the date-stone, the dawn, the stars, rain and gardens (6:95–99); "No vision can grasp Him, but He grasps all vision" (6:103).
• Ten commandments (6:151–153): associate nothing with God, be good to parents, do not kill your children for fear of poverty, avoid indecency, do not take life unjustly, protect the orphan's property, give full measure and weight, be just in speech, fulfil God's covenant, and follow His straight path.
• The closing declaration: "My prayer, my sacrifice, my life and my death are for God, Lord of the worlds" (6:162).

Notable verses

When 6:82 was revealed, promising security to "those who believe and do not mix their faith with wrongdoing", the Companions asked who among them had never done wrong. The Prophet ﷺ explained that the wrongdoing meant is associating partners with God, as in Luqman's words to his son in Luqman (al-Bukhari 32, Muslim 124).

Verses 6:79 and 6:162–163 form part of an opening supplication of the prayer transmitted from the Prophet (Muslim 771).

In the Mushaf it is followed by Al-Araf, another long Meccan surah, which carries the same call through the stories of earlier prophets.